Of all the advisors I've talked to over the years, the one who's had the best success in developing referral momentum has been Dodee Frost Crockett of Merrill Lynch in Dallas (who incidentally will be the keynote speaker at the Top Advisor Summit taking place on June 9 in Toronto. For more info on the Summit go to www.topadvisorsummit.com.)In talking to Dodee about her success, one key driver has been the emergence of a number of "referral advocates", clients and professionals who provided a steady stream of referrals.

Her experience is far from unique. Virtually every advisor who has received a substantial number of referrals has seen a disproportionate number of those referrals come from a small number of clients - in some cases one or two, in others as many as six or eight.

Few things will fuel the growth of an advisor's business like having referral advocates in place.

There are typically three things which turn a regular client into a referral advocate.

1. The work you've done for them - referral advocates have typically seen work from their advisors which is above and beyond what they expected. They truly are convinced that they're doing their friends a favour by recommending you.
2. The nature of the client - referral advocates tend to be comfortable providing referrals (something which I refer to in my workshops as having "high Referral DNA"). They also typically have a wide network of friends and associates who are candidates to work with you. Often, these referral advocates have visibility and credibility within their communities, so that their referrals carry particular weight.
3. Finally, your relationship with these referral advocates is critical.

For a few advisors, the line between business and personal relationships with their referral advocates has blurred and they have become close friends - they socialize together, talk regularly, know the things about each other which they would about good friends and in some cases vacation together.

Those are the exceptions, however - in most cases, the relationship with referral advocates is still primarily professional in nature. That said, advisors almost always have excellent rapport with referral advocates and enjoy the time they spend talking.

The most reliable indicator of whether a client has what it takes to become a referral advocate is whether they have already provided referrals - the best predictor of future referrals is past referrals. Once someone has made one or two initial referrals, one key to them becoming a referral advocate is how their advisor ensures they feel appreciated and acknowledged.

I'm not just talking about a thank you gift linked to the specific referral. Yes, that thank you gift is important but it's often not enough - one of the best ways to have clients feel thanked, oddly enough, is to disconnect the acknowledgement from the actual referral event. The reason: Thank you's have the biggest impact when they're unexpected and few clients will be surprised to get a thank you specifically related to a referral.

For example, one advisor has identified five prime referral sources. For each of those five referral sources, he knows their favourite authors, the kind of music they like to listen to and the dates of birthdays and anniversaries. Once a quarter, he seeks out an opportunity to send them something costing in the range of $20 to $40 -- a book, a CD or a good bottle of wine with which to celebrate an upcoming event. The note that goes with these is along the lines of "I thought of you when I saw this and thought you might enjoy it". The total cost for those gifts to his five top referral sources averages $150 quarterly - the issue is not the money spent but rather the time he takes to select something which sends the signal that he truly does appreciate their support.

Another Toronto-based advisor has three clients who account for over half of his referrals. Each fall, he invites those clients and their spouses to one special weekend at the Shaw Festival at Niagara On The Lake, located about 90 minutes from Toronto - the weekend starts with lunch on Saturday followed by a play in the afternoon, then dinner on Saturday night and brunch on Sunday morning.

He wraps up the brunch by saying: "I'm delighted that you were able to join me this weekend as a way for me to say thank you for the opportunity to work together and for your support for my business over the past year". The cost of that weekend for him, his wife and three client couples is $3500. His comment is that it has never taken more than four weeks to recoup that investment through new referrals from those clients.

Saying thank you doesn't need to be elaborate or expensive. One advisor calls his top clients up a couple of times a year and invites them to lunch, simply to get caught up - when they thank him afterwards, he answers: "It's my pleasure - I truly enjoy spending time with my very best clients like you." Another advisor calls his most important clients annually and says: "We've got the fourth anniversary of the date we began working together coming up - I'd like to take you to lunch as a thank you". He always gets a good response - and the reaction is even better when he extends the invitation to the spouse as well and makes it a Sunday brunch or dinner for couples.

As you reflect on your business going forward, think about whether you've got clients who have the potential to be referral advocates - and then consider what you can do to build rapport and relationships with those clients to move them into the referral advocate category.